24 month contracts on FTTP

[#1]

Why do all FTTP packages have 24 month contracts? I think 18 months is too long, so 24 months for me is far too long, if Plusnet or other providers want us to change from FTTC to FTTp then would it not be a good idea to have shorter contracts.

[#2]

@ad47uk 

Have you rung the Customer Options Team on 0800 013 2632 and askd if this is the only option?

[#3]

@ad47uk 

I'm not certain but I think PN do do 12 & 18 month contracts even if not advertised.

One thing for sure - the longer the contract the cheaper the price.

Brian

[#4]

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@Baldrick1 wrote:

@ad47uk 

Have you rung the Customer Options Team on 0800 013 2632 and askd if this is the only option?

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No, I am waiting to get closer to the end of my contract before I do anything, I was just wondering, even if they do offer a shorter contract they will put the price up, which again puts people off changing.
I have said it before on these forums that i really am not that bothered about FTTP, my FTTC does what I need, but now openreach have turned on FTTP here and is doing the rest of the city, I wonder how long we will be able to order FTTC packages.  I could just recontract now for a FTTC package, that would take me to June 2024 if I go for 18 months, but to be honest I am not sure if I want to stay with Plusnet, Now broadband at the moment is doing FTTC 36Mb/s  for £21 a month, which is less than what I am paying for the same with Plusnet, and they have a 12-month contract.

We also have Zzoomm  network here they have a far better Fibre network than Openreach and I could wait until June next year and go for that, but again a 24 month contract, but the price is £33 a month for 150Mb/s, but at least that is up and down. But again I don't require that speed. i don't want the hassle of having peiople in the house putting boxes in and drilling holes in walls for somethingI don't really need and  yet Openreach is going to force that onto us soon, and then we are forced into 24 month contracts or pay a lot of money for shorter contract.
BT charges people £29 set up fee for FTTp for some unknown reason, I thought set up fees went out with the ark, but then we are talking about BT.

[#5]

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@bmc wrote:

@ad47uk 

I'm not certain but I think PN do do 12 & 18 month contracts even if not advertised.

One thing for sure - the longer the contract the cheaper the price.

Brian

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They do with FTTC, I can recontract for 12, or 18 months with FTTC, but I have not seen it for FTTP.  As I have above, I don't really want to go onto FTTP, I am fine with FTTC, but I suspect before the end of next year we may not have much choice, but I am not paying huge amounts for a shorter contract nor am I going to sign for a 24 month one either.

[#6]

@ad47uk 

It's worth giving CO a phone as per the suggestion of  @Baldrick1 - it at least gives you an idea of what's what.

If you stay a PN customer you should be able to continue with FTTC for as long as you like. At some point they'll do something with the phone line but this would be the same with any ISP you went to. The key thing to check is if your Exchange is a Fibre Priority Exchange - if it is, you can't oder new FTTC packages ie you change change ISP or your product on PN. Check here

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

Brian

[#7]

Sadly in this good old country 1.5 year and 2 year contracts seem to be the norm and not the exception nowaways. PlusNet are following suit. Any company with any business brain would offer the option of having a rolling monthly or a year contract.

1.5 and 2 year contracts are not really suitable for someone renting are they?

[#8]

 ISPs  Ed to recover the cost of supplying a hub. Once your initial term is over 

it becomes a rolling 1 month contract unless you renew.

If you rent and move you can always transfer the contract to the new address.

[#9]

Someone I think a 2 year contract will more than cover the cost of the hub plus postage and packing?

I don't like comitting something for 2 years, do PlusNet offer the option of you supply your own hardware pay and some sort of upfront activation cost then? Rhetorical qustion I know, but I thought I'd ask anyway.

I know I am moaning a bit, but I am in a similar situation here. Where I have my PlusNet account FTTP has already been installed. At least I think it has as I have noticed pavement sockets have appeared.

We can't get Branson Media here, so I may be looking at FTTP too. Happy to stay with PlusNet myself as the connection has been good and I have only used support twice who have been excellent. I think I have had the account for 20 years or so!

[#10]

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@bmc wrote:

@ad47uk 

It's worth giving CO a phone as per the suggestion of  @Baldrick1 - it at least gives you an idea of what's what.

If you stay a PN customer you should be able to continue with FTTC for as long as you like. At some point they'll do something with the phone line but this would be the same with any ISP you went to. The key thing to check is if your Exchange is a Fibre Priority Exchange - if it is, you can't oder new FTTC packages ie you change change ISP or your product on PN. Check here

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

Brian

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Thanks for the link, I have already done that a couple of weeks ago and no my area is not in a Fibre Priority Exchange, not sure how long that will last as openreach is updating the city like mad now, seems to be following the Alt network. I think I will wait until closer to the end of my contract and the look at my options, I could recontract FTTC for 12 or 18 months.

[#11]

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@Alex wrote:

Sadly in this good old country 1.5 year and 2 year contracts seem to be the norm and not the exception nowaways. PlusNet are following suit. Any company with any business brain would offer the option of having a rolling monthly or a year contract.

1.5 and 2 year contracts are not really suitable for someone renting are they?

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I thought the days of long contracts were over, seems like FTTP is a excuse to bring them back, to be honest I never asked Plusnet or any provider to provide the router, granted when I first started to use FTTC i had to have a modem, and they supplied the Openreach for that, but that was the early days of FTTC, but now with so much equipment available for FTTP.
I am not a fan of most providers routers anyway, this one LED give very little info, I like to know if my Ethernet connections are working so prefer lights on the front to show that.

I rent, but I rent social housing, so I don't have a limit, but people in private renting may be in a different situation and even if they can get shorter contract they have to pay a fortune for it

[#12]

Moderators Note

This topic has been moved from  Full Fibre to My Account / Billing

[#13]

Remember that the majority of new FTTP take ups will be first installations ... which ISPs have to pay for and manage.  Therefore it would seem reasonable that they want a tie-in to recover the cost of the installation.

I have seen it claimed that there is minimal profit on 12 month minimum term agreements ... which is a good reason for (a) not offering them and (b) make it more attractive to customers to not migrate away at the conclusion of the minimum term.

[#14]

In new fibre areas they will certainly be first installations, I presume you mean first installations of Fibre and not broadband itself and yes I suppose with the cost of installation a 12-month contract may only just cover the cost of the installation, but not to be nasty here that is not my problem, Plusnet is part of BT which is a huge company that have been overcharging people for services for years, the only reason grabbed hold of Plusnet was to have a lower cost broadband service to try and get back people who have left to cheaper providers instead of just reducing the price of the BT service itself.

I am not a BT fan by a long way and only went to plusnet because they were the only one to do a quick installation of FTTC at the time for a decent price and to be fair to them, they have been pretty good and the customer service is or was far better than their parent company ever was, so I stuck with them.

But now things are different, cost of living and all that, and we all need to try and get the best value we can while I realise that getting a 12-month contract on FTTP is not possible, not that I want to go for FTTP anyway, they should have at least an 18-month one, but looking at different providers I find that is not easy to get either, which is one of the reason I will stay with FTTC, I was going to recontract my FTTC, but I will wait until the end in 7 months and see what is around at that time

[#15]

Once FTTP becomes preferred in a geography, FTTC services will be restricted to the 40/10 offering on renewal.